The highest grossing film of all time – Avatar has spawned a sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water. James Cameron blew people’s minds in 2009 when he displayed his technical might. There is hardly a visionary like Cameron working in the film industry, Nolan comes very close because of his use of practical effects. Cameron had made no film after Avatar took over the world and became the highest grossing film of all time beating another Cameron film- Titanic. The first Avatar packed in a lot of heart and emotion with its insane, never seen before visuals. The screenplay of the film while bloated was supremely heartfelt. It has been a lot of time since we heard from Pandora. Cameron has an annoying habit of reinventing cinema or creating some new technology every time he touches a camera.
I was absolutely taken aback by the first Avatar, not by the effects, I mean I was but I expected that but along with the effects the way Cameron had weaved in an extremely emotional and heartfelt story of Pandora and its people was brilliant. Also, the protagonist of a film like Avatar has a threat of becoming one dimensional or stereotypical but Cameron managed to make him unique and fresh. Really, Avatar was a cinematic achievement like no other and so when Cameron spawned a sequel for it I was ready to be blown away once again. After 13 years years, finally I got to see the continuation of Pandora’s story and it was an experience like no other but it seems like the 13 years wait too long as the sequel hasn’t opened to on an explosive note.
Avatar: The Way of Water Opens on an Underwhelming Note!
Before the sequel’s release the early box office projections of the film showed that the sequel is on its way to open at $150-$175 Million at the domestic box office, however, that is not the insane number. The sequel’s is said to open with $450-550 Million worldwide. Which places it behind Spider-Man: No Way Home ($583 Million). Reports claim that the China release is at least adding $100 Million to the Way of Water’s opening. These figures while humungous are still disappointing for a film like Avatar 2.
These projections are a common thing now for any Marvel movie and Avatar despite being Cameron’s first film in 13 years and technical supreme than any other film that come out in the recent past, is performing at par with the any Marvel movie. This is a disappointing start for Avatar 2 as the sequel also comes with a hefty price tag around $460 Million. This is possibly the most expensive film ever made. Well, we have the numbers of Avatar 2 from its first opening weekend and you can judge them yourself.
According to Deadline, the opening weekend of Avatar: The Way of Water is shaping up to $135 million, which is even lower than the projections. The sequel has failed to enter the Top 5 December Releases which consists of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, and Spider-Man: No Way Home (leading the pack at $260.1 million). That being said there is one thing that is in the sequel’s favor.
Avatar 2’s Friday-to-Saturday hold is a drop of only 15%, which beats all those titles by a wide margin, with the next best hold being Rogue One at 35%. Avatar 2 has to keep up with its insane budget and high expectations. James Cameron has mentioned many times that he’d only make the remaining Avatar movies if the Way of Water makes money. If we have to talk numbers then Cameron has said that the sequel has to make at least $2 Billion for the third film to happen.
That is a huge number, no film has managed to get that number since Avengers: Endgame in 2019. Spider-Man: No Way Home came very close to it but still didn’t cross it. So, if the sequel plans to pass this number it has to beat everything in the middle.
Watch the Official Trailer For Avatar 2: The Way of Water on YouTube:
Avatar: The Way of Water is slated to release on 16th December 2022.
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